GEOFF BENNETT: The war between Israel and Hamas is at the forefront of American politics this week, as President Biden pledges to provide aid and support to Israel.

For more, we turn to the analysis of Brooks and Capehart.

That's New York Times columnist David Brooks, and Jonathan Capehart, associate editor for The Washington Post.

It's good, as always, to see you both.

JONATHAN CAPEHART: Thank you, Geoff.

DAVID BROOKS: Good to see you.

GEOFF BENNETT: So, President Biden's deep emotional reaction to the Hamas terror attacks has really translated into a forceful American response and defense of Israel.

And, David, he seems to be navigating this line of saying that he understands the necessity of Israel's overwhelming retaliation, but he's also saying that he sees the importance of sparing the lives of civilians and making sure that Israel adheres to the rules of law -- rules of war.

(CROSSTALK) DAVID BROOKS: Yes, I thought this was one of Joe Biden's best weeks as president.

He was a voice of moral clarity.

He was one of the early voices to remind everybody that what Hamas has become looks like ISIS, sort of a death cult.

He did in the face of divisions on the left.

There are a lot of mainstream liberals who are appalled by what happened.

There are more progressive voices, many who think this is a legitimate part of decolonization.

And yet Joe Biden knows Israeli history.

He knows the Palestinians.

He's been doing this for a long time.

And he knows that this is a case of someone who wants to -- of a group that wants to destroy Israel and push the Jews into the sea.

And so he said that.

I think he's also making the case, which I think Zelenskyy's a little ahead of him on, that Ukraine and Israel, the war against Hamas and against Putin are joined.

They're wars against barbarism.

And I think he sees that clearly.

And so I just think it was just a marvelous display of moral clarity and real storytelling for a guy who -- for whom grand narrative storytelling and rhetoric is not always the great gift, but I just thought a magnificent week.

GEOFF BENNETT: Moral clarity and grand storytelling.

What's your assessment of the administration's response?

JONATHAN CAPEHART: I agree with David 100 percent.

And it's not just the president.

It's the secretary of state, who spoke from the heart next to Prime Minister Netanyahu.

It's Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin being there earlier in the day today also showing solidarity.

But I -- what happened a week ago tonight or tomorrow is really -- it's beyond disturbing.

And I just feel compelled -- as an African American, I understand the ancestral pain and terror felt by my Jewish friends and Jews around the world by what happened.

This was not -- what Hamas did was not the usual Middle East back-and-forth.

This was barbaric.

And so I understand and feel that pain.

And that carnage and barbarism needs to be addressed.

I also grieve for the innocent Palestinians who are being -- who have been used and are being used as human shields by Hamas, people, terrorists who are living among them, putting munitions in residential areas, who couldn't care less about their lives, couldn't care less about the rules of war.

And their leadership -- their leadership, living in Gaza right now, do they even care that the people who've been told to evacuate have nowhere to go?

And so we are in a completely different time now when we're talking about conflicts in the Middle East.

And it's -- what we're about to see in the coming days is going to be unlike anything we have ever seen.

And it's going to tear our hearts out.

GEOFF BENNETT: And there are, no doubt, far-reaching foreign policy consequences here too.

President Biden's effort to shepherd a normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia that could really revamp the geopolitics of the entire Middle East, that seems to be stalled, at best.

How might this Israel-Hamas war resonate beyond its borders?

DAVID BROOKS: Well, first I want to appreciate Jonathan's comments.

The history of Judaism is the history of hiding in homes while people come and kill -- try to kill you and try to burn you down.

And so that goes back to the exiles thousands of years ago.

It goes back to the pogroms, when my ancestors left Central Europe.

It goes back to the Holocaust.

And so the whole point of the state of Israel was, that would not happen again.

You would not have young girls hiding under dead bodies, so she -- they can live.

And so it happened, and it touches something very deep in the Jewish consciousness.

And I understand why the Israelis are so outraged, up in arms, traumatized, whatever word you want to use, and why they want to be so aggressive at Hamas.

I have to say, one of the things Joe Biden can tell the Israelis, as a friend and as someone who's offered unconditional love, is that, well, we had our 9/11, and we did not react intelligently.

And so you have to think carefully about what you're walking into.

I supported the war in Iraq.

At that time, I saw five or six different ways it could benefit the United States or benefit the Iraqis, benefit the Middle East.

I confess, I look at this thing in Gaza, I don't really see a positive exit strategy.

I see urban warfare, like, Mosul times 10.

I don't -- is Israel really going to stay there forever?

You can't withdraw once you have destroyed Hamas.

You have to stay there.

How is that going to work in this world?

And so I'm hoping the Biden administration will say, do what you need to do to Hamas, but let's not overreach here.

And let's remember that the reason, one of the reasons Hamas did this was to prevent Saudi-Israeli alliance.

So, let's put that first.

Let's have a revenge by having a Saudi-Israeli alliance and really hit Hamas where they live.

GEOFF BENNETT: As we talk about the Biden administration's response, his predecessor, Donald Trump, drew wide criticism and condemnation this past week for faulting Netanyahu, for calling Hezbollah very smart in his remarks.

DONALD TRUMP, Former President of the United States (R) and Current U.S. Presidential Candidate: I will never forget that Bibi Netanyahu let us down.

That was a very terrible thing.

I will say that.

And they said, gee, I hope Hezbollah doesn't attack from the north, because that's the most vulnerable spot.

I said, wait a minute, Hezbollah is very smart.

They are all very smart.

The press doesn't like when I say that.

GEOFF BENNETT: And we can contrast that to what Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley had to say.

GOV.

RON DESANTIS (R-FL), Presidential Candidate: Israel has a right to defend itself, and that means do that to the hilt.

You have to uproot the terrorist infrastructure, these networks, and Hamas needs to be no more.

NIKKI HALEY (R), Presidential Candidate: This is sick, and we have to treat sick people the way they deserve to be treated and eliminate them.

GEOFF BENNETT: Your response to what Donald Trump had to say?

JONATHAN CAPEHART: The clip you showed is exhibit number whatever it is of why he should never, ever again be entrusted with the power and responsibility that comes with sitting in the Oval Office.

I am happy to be wrong about the reaction from the Republican presidential field.

I thought they would follow form and not criticize Trump at all, for fear of engendering the rage of their base.

But Governor Haley, Governor DeSantis, Governor Christie, former Vice President Mike Pence, most of them criticized Trump, and I applaud them for that for that.

But there's no way that guy should be president of the United States again by that clip alone.

GEOFF BENNETT: It's also a reminder of how Donald Trump's isolationist views have really realigned the Republicans' approach to foreign policy.

DAVID BROOKS: It's stunning.

I mean, well, first, that Donald Trump clip, everything's about Donald Trump.

Look, 1,000 people get murdered, and it's all about Donald Trump.

And so the party has -- it was the party of anti-communism.

It was the party of an American-led world order.

It was the party of containment against Russia, against the Soviet Union.

And now it's very much the opposite.

And as I look at the Republican Party, I just want to make sure they're going to fund Ukraine.

I just want to make fund -- I think they should link Ukraine aid to Israel aid and maybe the Southern border aid and say, we are just going to fund things that will create a stable world order.

But it is a party that -- and just about Nikki Haley and Governor DeSantis, in my heart, I agree with their sentiments.

And I - - Hamas has been a genocidal group from the start.

But you have got to be effective.

And I have talked on this program a few times that my son served in the IDF.

He's home now, fortunately.

But his unit, they got hammered on Saturday morning, lost a lot of people, because of intelligence failures on the Israeli side, because they didn't know what Hamas was doing, because the stupid security fence was a high-tech mess.

And so you -- as we think about going in, it's easy to say, let's go take out Hamas.

How does that exactly work?

And so a little loose talk from Nikki Haley and Governor DeSantis, maybe it's loose talk for the week, but sometime down the road, we're going to figure out how this is actually going to work.

GEOFF BENNETT: In the time that remains, let's talk about the House speaker race, because Steve Scalise won the party nomination on Wednesday, beating Jim Jordan.

By Thursday, Steve Scalise had dropped out of the election entirely.

And now, today, Jim Jordan has won the nomination, but has no path to 217 votes.

What is happening within the Republican Conference, Jonathan, so much that anyone would know?

JONATHAN CAPEHART: It's chaos.

It's mayhem.

It's also pathetic.

We -- the speaker of the House isn't just some person.

It's a constitutional officer.

It's a third in line to the presidency.

There will be no aid to Ukraine, there will be no aid to Israel, there will be no border anything here in the United States unless and until there is a speaker of the House.

And Jim Jordan is the guy who got less votes than Steve Scalise, who got less votes than Kevin McCarthy got when he ran for speaker.

So I don't know who the next speaker of the House is going to be, unless Republicans turn to the Democrats and say, OK, Hakeem Jeffries, we will give you the votes, and you become speaker, because we have got to start governing.

GEOFF BENNETT: Well, on that point, we spoke with the Democratic leader on this program yesterday, and he made an overture to what he called traditional Republicans, offering something of a coalition government.

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): There is a real path and a real opportunity to be serious, to be substantive, to be sober in meeting the needs of the American people and our allies like Israel and Ukraine across the world.

But we just need traditional Republicans to break from their extremist wing and join us in a bipartisan coalition.

GEOFF BENNETT: So far, it doesn't appear he has any takers.

Should that change?

DAVID BROOKS: I doubt it'll change.

I think the more likely thing, Patrick McHenry, the current sitting speaker, has been approached by some moderate Democrats, who will say, we will support you, give you more powers, so we can pass the serious stuff, but you have to give us some concessions on stuff we can bring to the floor for a vote.

That seems to me, if there's going to be a reasonable solution, that strikes me more likely.

GEOFF BENNETT: How do you think it'll go?

JONATHAN CAPEHART: It'll be a long time before we get to that moment.

(LAUGHTER) DAVID BROOKS: Give me my moment of hope.

Come on.

(LAUGHTER) JONATHAN CAPEHART: They're in recess right now.

(LAUGHTER) GEOFF BENNETT: Jonathan Capehart and David Brooks, thanks so much.

Appreciate it.

JONATHAN CAPEHART: Thanks, Geoff.